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Bolts for short Birmingham XFL team named Thunderbolts
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) -- The city once known as "Bombingham" won't have a football team named "The Blast." Promoters named Birmingham's XFL team the Thunderbolts on Thursday after shelving their first choice -- The Blast -- which for some rekindled memories of the city's history of racial bombings. General manager Tim Berryman said he was happy the name "Thunderbolts" was picked, given possible negative connotations with the word "Blast." "If one-tenth of 1 percent have a reaction to the tragic events of the past, it's not worth it," he said. Officials with the XFL, a partnership of the World Wrestling Federation and NBC-TV, unveiled the team's name, logo and colors of purple, yellow and silver during a news conference. The team will be known as the Bolts for short, with a "B" on the front of players' helmets. Word leaked earlier this week that the team's name would be The Blast. Berryman said the name was selected on the reaction of focus groups, particularly the 13- to 18-year-old males the league hopes to capture as a TV audience. But officials quickly shelved The Blast after learning of negative connotations in Birmingham, where two former Ku Klux Klansman are awaiting trial in the 1963 bombing deaths of four black girls. The city was once dubbed "Bombingham" because of the frequency of racist bombings. Also, Birmingham was the scene of the nation's first fatal abortion clinic bombing in 1998. A police officer was killed and a nurse was critically injured. Berryman said concerns over the bombing image led to the change, but even the switch drew criticism. Callers responding to a television station's question about the team said the name shouldn't have been changed. "There are certain bombings the media has just played to death," a female caller identified only as Ruth said on WBRC-TV. Berryman denied the league caved in to "political correctness." He said the "nail in the coffin" came when league research found news articles referring to the 1963 bombing as the "Birmingham blast." The XFL begins play next year.
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